Sunday, 30 September 2012

This wine has an appealing golden colour that makes you want to taste it right away! Not too light and has a balanced zesty taste. Notes are decent, medium length IMO and quite fruity. This wine is definitely affordable and easy on the wallet and overall pleasant to the taste buds but there are definitely better options out there.

Wednesday, 26 September 2012

Barely breathing and not quite able to clench my fist, "I did it! I finally did it!"

I managed to accomplish the dreaded M300s (M100s x 3). It wasn't continuous as I was panting away, sweating buckets, wiping my sweat and taking quick breathers (trust me, it wasn't a pretty sight!) along the way but the bottom line remains...I DID IT!!!

My time for the M300s

I felt awesome after the M300s (due to the pumping adrenaline I reckon) and immediately went for 20 minutes cardio to fatigue my body further. I cycled on the stationary bicycle, where I alternated between 45 seconds of Level 8 (at above 90
rpm) and 45 seconds of Level 15 (at above 100 rpm) for 20 minutes.

Needless to say, I had a good sleep that night and snored away to dreamland! :-)

Since my first triumph, I've been doing the M300s quite frequently. I would usually continue with more cardio for up to 30 minutes.I feel satisfied after each cardio workout as I'm pretty sure it was sufficiently intensive and effective.

Saturday, 22 September 2012

Body building is more than just a sport or hobby. It's actually a science. You need to understand how your body works and how it reacts to weight training and food/nutrition. The biggest misconception is that body building is about eating loads of protein and lifting super heavy weights. Trust me, it's definitely not. Don't believe me, try it and you'll know. I didn't see any results in the first 2 years of my weight training as I didn't understand full the science of body building back then.

Body building involves 2 stages- bulking and cutting.

BULKING

Bulking is a stage where you grow thick and dense muscles. This stage is arguable the most fun (some say easiest) as you eat well (lots of protein including whey protein usually at a ratio of 1.5g of protein to 1lb of body weight and weight gainer), lift low reps of heavy weights (only compound movements, 6 reps of 5-6 sets would suffice) and rest well (sleep at least 8 hours a day and train alternate days to promote/allow recovery). Basically, this stage of body building requires you to eat a lot of protein (to build mass)
and carbs (for energy to lift heavy weights). However, this stage makes you look "full and bloated" as you can't bulk and gain muscles without putting on fat (yikes!), thus giving you the "large" appearance.

CUTTING
Once you've reached your size of choice, it's time to cut the fat. Think of this stage like a woodcutter shaping the log into something beautiful, into a work of art. That's what cutting is all about. You focus on stripping and melting away the fat and the body fat percentage to reveal your defined muscles and cuts. During this stage, you'll also lose some muscles as you lose fat but the good part is that you lose the latter faster. You achieve muscles definition by lifting lots of light weights (isolation movements, 15-20 reps of 4 sets each), doing lots of cardio (after your weight training, about 20-30 minutes of low intensity cardio) and reducing your daily calories. This is the time to show off the cuts and curves, baby! :-)

Tuesday, 18 September 2012

This wine is clear and bright in colour, not too appealing to the eyes I must say. However, this light golden elixir definitely packs a punch and impresses you in the taste department! It tastes of fresh aromatics and fresh tropical fruits. Its fruitiness is quite intense and very pleasant on the palates, mostly passionfruit flavour with a tinge of citrus. This wine is well-balanced and with low acidity, and surprisingly has good length for a light golden wine. It was certainly very refreshing and was perfect to pair with murukus.

I would definitely recommend this wine as it is reasonably priced and value for money. IMHO it tastes more expensive than its retail price!

Friday, 14 September 2012

Now that I've more or less recovered from my shoulder injury, I've decided to start doing weight training again. I still feel slight soreness at my left shoulder area and as such I'm rather paranoid and fearful of a potential relapse of the injury. Weights must be kept light and I shall increase gradually as I get stronger.

I've made a mental note of warming up before each and every weight training session. Honestly, warming up is so boring and doesn't look manly-man but it's nonetheless very important.

My lack of warm-up (actually I didn't do any warm-up on that dreadful day) was one of the reasons of how I sustained my shoulder injury.

Warm up prepares your body for an exercise or workout. During warm up, your
circulatory system gradually pumps oxygen-rich blood to your working muscles to "warm it up".
Once you have adequately warmed up, your body will be ready for an increase in workout intensity. Since your muscles are warmed up, they will be able to better absorb shocks and impacts during the course of your exercise or workout, thus reducing the chance of sustaining an injury.

Benefits of warming up are as follows:-
1. Increases blood flow to muscle tissues, making the muscles more flexible and elastic;
2. Increases delivery of O2 and nutrients to your working muscles;
3. Prepares your working muscles for workout;
4. Prepares your hearth for an increase in workload and prevents a rapid increase in blood pressure;
5. Prepares your mind for workout;
6. Prepares your nerve-to-muscle system for workout;
7. Improves muscles coordination and reaction;
8. Reduces the chance of sustaining an injury.

I would usually start my warm up by doing 40-50 burpees, followed by some basic stretching movements. I find that doing burpees is the most efficient and effective way of starting the engine and breaking a sweat. Thereafter, I would do 2 warm-up sets prior to doing the actual working sets for each movement.

I guess I've to accept that I'm getting older by the day and thus cannot be too careful :-P

Monday, 10 September 2012

"It's time for cardio agaaaaain (trying to sound enthusiastic...you know la, cardio training can be rather mundane after some time *yawn*)! But it's raining cats and dogs outside, how do I go for my run? Maybe I should just have a rest day."

After almost convincing myself NOT to do any cardio for the day, I decided to pit myself against the insane M300s (or M100s x 3). To put it simply, it consist of 10 sets of 10 burpees, 10 mountain climbers and 10 double pump squat jumps, all done in succession and without any break in between (yeah right! *LOL*).

I started strong but ended up throwing in the towel after 8 sets (or M240s). My heart felt like jumping out of my chest and my legs felt like a tonne each!

I clocked slightly over 13 minutes...

Property of Mr Flabby Less

13:12 is now my benchmark. The next time I attempt the M240s, I should try to dip below this time. Alternatively, strive for the M300s! Either way, it's gonna be an ordeal.

Thursday, 6 September 2012

I love the deep velvet colour and slightly spicy and strong dark berries scent/flavour. I also find there's a hint of chocolate. Quiet full-bodied and has pretty strong tannins when you first open the bottle. Decent long notes and the tannins mellow after about 30 minutes, which is the best time to enjoy! I love pairing this with my home-made roast pork!

This is by far one of my absolute favourites! Delicious and affordable...IMHO tastes more expensive than its retail price! Bought a few cases to enjoy and I'm now down to my last 5 bottles! Better reserve for special occasions/guests :-P

Sunday, 2 September 2012

I eat 3 main meals a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and I snack in between all the time (sometimes up to 4 times a day!). Snacking is important to ensure we receive constant energy to keep us going throughout the day. Besides this, snacking (I'm referring to healthy snacks only, i.e."clean"/"quality" snacks with low or almost no fatso I apologise if I got you all excited when I mentioned "snacking"! :-P) also helps to keep hunger at bay and thus will steer us clear of ginormous portions during meal time. We all know ginormous portions will always mean high calories, and if we don't burn enough or all of it during the course of the day, the balance will be stored as fat.

There are many healthy/"clean"/"quality" snacks to choose from and I'm happy to list down and share 8 of my snacks of choice:-

Instant oats

Apples, pears and bananas

Low fat yogurt

Almonds

Kacang putih

Whey protein shake

The above are my snacks of choice as I personally find them convenient to store and easy to consume, especially during weekdays when I'm at the office.

About Me

A Malaysian corporate consultant/manager who is also an avid fitness buff. Formerly flabulous. Trying hard to be fabulous. Enjoys the finer things in life (especially good food and wine!)...which is probably why fabulosity is rather illusive. Believes fitness is a way of life, not a fad. Firm believer of fitness being a life-long commitment and way of life. Fitness it's a marathon, not a sprint.

Greetings

Hi, I'm Less....Flabby Less (trying to mimic James Bond!) :-P

Welcome to my humble blog.

In this blog, I shall share my personal thoughts, experiences and knowledge about health and fitness, training programmes, nutrition and supplements, food (sinfully delicious food included!), wine/spirits (how can we not pair sinfully delicious food with elixir of life?!) and the likes. Occasionally, I may even share random stuff too.

I hope you enjoy reading my posts. Feel free to drop me an email should you have any queries. I'm happy to respond and ever ready to make new friends.

Ciao,Mr. Flabby Less

Disclaimer

Posts found in this blog are strictly the private opinion and view of Mr. Flabby Less, mostly from personal experience.

Photos, videos and web links are not properties of Mr. Flabby Less, save for when explicitly mentioned.